Bleach theory/mechanics
Explaining the Unexplored This page is made to speculate on any unanswered parts of the Bleach universe, keeping in mind that any ideas that are shown to be incorrect can just be recycled to add to the content and pool of ideas to enrich this fanonverse. As this is a theory page there are no wrong answers, this pages ideas will be seen as a work in progress and may be subject to many changes/edits, and I ask that people contribute interesting ideas (with evidence to back up your claim if needed) or correct mistakes/lackings in knowledge in a polite and clear headed manner. Quincy:Vollstandig vs. Letz stille theory I think that their vollstandig each having individual names is the key, similar to how Yhwach carves a schrift into their souls to give them power, they write names that resonate with them and their quincy powers onto their own souls which personalizes and defines their inner Yhwach spirit (that Ichigo showed they all have, even if they aren't aware and can't communicate with) as theirs and separate from Yhwach, granting them greater quincy powers. I think that the inner spirit angle is a good way to explain how they can regulate final form reishi without burning out and why 2 quincy (As and Lille) and possibly more could go a second monstrous transformation when they are fanatical and devoted enough to Yhwach but this theory doesn't require them to be aware of an inner Yhwach spirit and can explain that they came up with this method after watching the shinigami and noting that their zanpakuto became more powerful after adding to its name via bankai. Kyoka Suigetsu was FAR from perfect I always heard that this zanpakuto was godlike but there were numerous holes in it. 1-I think that Aizen has to be able to imagine the illusion, so someone with an extremely good eye (or in Unohana's case, a knowledge of medicine accurate enough to intuitively see through Aizen's fake as he was less knowledgeable in this field), 2-have an external source who hasn't seen it's release keep at a distance/out of sight and use kido to overlap your senses with theirs so you can have "backup senses" that haven't been touched by Kyoka Suigetsu, 3- Ulquiorra was likely immune to Kyoka Suigetsu. Actually most arrancar have some defense, but everyone always forgets that Ulquiorra's pesquisa was always on visually, meaning that because it works as a spirit energy sense and NOT one of the 5 senses Aizen can control, he was virtually immune to that zanpakuto. Hollows into Kenpachi I hope no one forgot that when a hollow dies by a shinigami it gets purified and goes to soul society (yes Ulquiorra and Stark/Lillinette fans, they MAY be alive and one day even become shinigami, good thing Ichigo's inner hollow counts as a zanpakuto for Ulquiorra and hopefully the fact that a cero caused the worst injuries doesn't count) but what happens to all their power if they even reached vasto lorde status? My thought was that THAT'S how you explain Kenpachi's power, bloodlust and skull-shaped reiatsu, he himself is a purified hollow (I also think Yachiru was his inner hollow that was unable to remerge or remember until Kenpachi gained his shikai, this would explain her strange skeleton and monster shaped zanpakuto as a broken/dormant resurrection and why she disappeared when Kenpachi went shikai...I also think Gremmy fell apart after this not because he over did himself but because quincy start to desiccate in the presence of hollow power and that he might one day reawaken to his hollow powers in full) . I hope this possible theory helped those who were confused or annoyed at how he was seemingly born all-powerful for no particular reason. NOTE: even if you disagree that a purified hollow can retain some portion of their powers, I doubt you can deny that after having fought so long they probably keep the fighting instincts (it's been shown even in real cases of amnesia that memory loss doesn't remove fighting skill/instinct so it's even believable they'd keep those skills even if they forgot their time as a hollow), this would explain Kenpachi's beserker-like fighting style and how he was so epicly skilled even as a child ☀Depending on what you define as canon, there IS evidence hollow powers exist past purification via zanpakuto. The hell chapter episodes showed Shreiker with his hollow powers and later showed Szayel and Aaroniero with their full arrancar powers in hell so it's far from a stretch to claim that a soul going to soul society would keep SOMETHING, don't forget that it's entirely probable that a hollow spirit is just a part of your soul that can trigger just like a zanpakuto spirit and probably will just go mostly dormant if going to soul society as the positive energy of a zanpakuto just cancels out the negative hollow energy thus rendering it dormant again. My theory explains how he matched Unohana, who was the kenpachi of YAMAMOTO'S generation who must have had maybe a millennium or so of experience fighting shinigami captain level opponents (without just saying god loved him). With Yachiru...even I admit it's a stretch and I'm definately not saying it's likely but it explains many weird things like: why was Yachiru's zanpakuto so strange and actually look like hollows?/why did she seemingly rapture out of her clothes when Kenpachi went shikai and she saw it while having a strange look (bear in mind that her legs were still broken and she was leaving Kenpachi while he was hurt)?/why did Kenpachi encounter a little girl in Zaraki, which was known as a death trap and likely would've killed her in a day? (she may have had with him what Lillynette and Starrk had, with her only manifesting when Kenpachi needed to not be alone anymore) Vasto Lorde Evolution Finally, I don't think one should assume a vasto lorde would act like other hollows when it's purified:hollows get bigger when they eat other hollows and add to the number of souls culminating in the humongous gillians, then they shrink a bit as adjuchas because they suppress the other hollow souls, seeing as how Kubo has never (and may never) go into their final evolution I don't think it's wrong to bring up the option that they shrink and take human form because they find a way to "digest" the hollows they've eaten and become one soul (the shinigami never even imply that the human souls a hollow eats get to move on, so the hollows they eat should receive a similar treatment just a little harder to effectively process). This would explain why Ulquiorra's mouthless form could be possible as he'd no longer have to eat hollows seeing as his very being wasn't defined as being a hungry composite soul and would even explain the black figures he describes fighting as the hollows he's eaten while he kills them to digest them in a hollow's equivalent of an inner world. (note:Grimmjow's fraccion even stated that they stopped growing DESPITE still eating hollows which shows that there is more to evolving into adjuchas than merely eating hollows). It's important to remember that though a menos is composed of many different hollows (at least up to the adjuchas level if I'm right), there is always one hollow that is in control and fighting to stay that way, so any vasto lorde evolution would probably involve making that one the uncontested owner of that collected power, even if I'm wrong that they fully digest the others. In the show, Ichigo even went a hollow form while fighting Ulquiorra that looked like and very likely was a vasto lorde, which if true would mean that vasto lorde aren't defined by being a collection of hollows in one form and grants even greater likelihood to my theory. You don't need "spiritual anatomy" to explain why they don't die Early on in Bleach, Ichigo during his fight with Kenpachi seemingly gained the power the power to stop bleeding when his power shot up mid-battle. I don't think this could be an early manifestation of his blut because he had to confront what we now know is his zanpakuto spirit before gaining this ability (heavily implying it's part of his shinigami powers and NOT quincy power) and it was openly stated by Yhwach that Ichigo's powers as a quincy were inactive until Ichigo responded to Opie's "the jail", so he couldn't have used blut earlier than this. In regards to other shinigami, I think since getsuga tensho is implied to be Zangetsu's only power this quality of Ichigo's could be used to describe all shinigami and how their "immense durability" keeps them alive in the face of grievous injuries, as long as they have strong enough spiritual pressures/reiatsu. As to how it works, I think that it acts like a body wide bandage/stint which keeps you from bleeding out (after the initial blood spurt do you notice how little shinigami actually bleed, ESPECIALLY internal bleeding almost never happens as long they haven't exhausted their energy) and holds your organs in place so they don't fall out of your wound like would happen to humans who've suffered the injuries a Rangiku or Byakuya have suffered (bear in mind that this doesn't keep them from feeling pain, being unable to stand if their muscles are damaged, it doesn't make healing kido any less necessary to heal potentially fatal/crippling wounds that the body can't heal on its own, or any less difficult to kill outside of blood loss/organ displacement, all it does is keep you in one piece until it is impossible for your body to sustain itself, so Kurotsuchi using dummy organs still would have been crucial in his fight with Szayelapporo) Betrayal Is A Gray Area Aizen: I know Aizen looked like a traitorous jerk when he struck down Harribel but when one thinks about it, didn't he save her life? Had she continued her fight she likely would have fell like the rest and I think everyone realizes Aizen is skilled enough so that had he aimed to truly strike her down and not just leave her incapacitated she'd already be dead (those who've watched Yuyu Hakusho and the end of the Toguro saga probably see my point). I think Aizen knew that if she continued that she would die so he saved her in a way that would not hurt her honor and let the shinigami not think they had to finish her off. Giselle: It may have looked like she killed her friend but wouldn't Bambietta have ended up ACTUALLY dead like Cang Du if she had gone back after her loss? Giselle, though undeniably selfish and a sadist, probably saved Bambietta from a horrible execution. Quincy Fire This is just speculative on my part but I think they don't make fire, that what the flames are is reiatsu. Reiatsu/spiritual pressure act like atmospheric winds and pressure generated from a person's presence, so when quincy super-charge with reishi they are basically energizing that atmosphere to the point of combusting (sci-fi lovers are may be familiar with this phenomenon). To the shinigami, who had never seen such a terrifying thing, it probably freaked them out greatly which is why they may have made mistakes at the beginning of the arc. Quincy and Hollows Quincy get weak and possibly die around hollows. A good explanation for this is that, as was shown in the early episodes with Orihime's brother, hollows have an acidic quality to their spiritual power. When quincy pull reishi from their surroundings they also pull in part of the hollow's power causing the acidic hollow reiatsu to eat away at the quincy's system from the inside out. Blut Theory (disclaimer: VERY speculative) I doubt I even need to mention blut vene as everyone knows what it is so this article is made to explain POSSIBLE theories on 2 other blut abilities (not anhaben or other character specific variants). I'm not sure if anyone else besides me was stumped about what blut arterie actually DID (sure it ups attack power but HOW does it do it?), my thoughts after reviewing is that it lets their spirit weapon have a getsuga tensho like effect, like how Bambietta and Cang Du's weapons extended like energy attacks (I remember way back when it realistically looked like Bambietta's sword was thought by many to even be her special quincy power). This next theory I expect to not be taken too seriously but I'd like any alternative ideas for it, I think that the monstrous/animalistic powers of "the glutton" and "the roar" can be explained as a variant ability of blut. It's been stated/implied I THINK in the battle of Ichigo vs. Opie that the blut system isn't all or nothing, that you could have 70% in blut vene and 30% in blut arterie (if you have any evidence I'm incorrect please let me know) so my thought is that those monstrous abilities come from using blut in a perfect balance of the 2 systems and that forms a kind of angiogenesis (the stimulation/creation of new blood vessels) in the blut system, which might tend to cause mutations that often come with the powers, like constant hunger or an ape like appearance but that makes that quincy unusually strong and surpassing the normal limits of blut (explaining why Liltotto was so terrifying to Pepe and seemed to be the leader of her group). Yes, I know that those powers come from the schrift Yhwach gives them but I think the ability they get when they receive one is linked to an existing power or aspect they specialize in (like the quincy's ability to have super refined spirit/reishi perceptive abilities being weaponized to be able to inflict that quincy's perception of the world, like with "the fear") and in a fanon universe I don't think it's unfair to claim that a quincy may even be able to train to give themselves a schrift without Yhwach's help, so I hope this idea may at least help inspire any who'd like to justify having a monstrous quincy while making those canon powers not seem as silly. If you find this idea a stretch please give an alternative and don't try to be too rude about it? Oetsu Nimaiya and His Many Zanpakuto My thoughts are based on what we saw during Ichigo's bankai training where he had to find his sword of power among all the swords representing his weakness. I believe that Oetsu has mastered all those swords of weakness of his own and manifested each one individually through an asauchi (it wouldn't surprise me if his biggest weaknesses were based around pretty girls based on his character). This would explain why his primary zanpakuto is so monstrously strong it can barely be sheathed or used as he literally removed every weakness that could dull its blade even a little. Quincy Non-aging This is only speculative on my part but I think that how quincy, despite being human, don't age is based on an advanced application of raso tengai. Just like they create reishi threads to manipulate their body when paralyzed, I think they do similar but instead pull reishi into their blood before using the technique, allowing them to have heavily increased control of their own inner workings and possibly fortifying them in further unforeseen ways. Giselle's ability probably is an advanced form of something similar to this concept as she can perfectly manipulate dead bodies with her blood in them to become whatever she needs to heal her comrades and can seemingly manipulate her own body as long as her brain is intact and she has enough blood allowing god-like regeneration and nigh unkillable status (I even think she was probably transgendered and may have used this ability to, perhaps completely, transition herself to a female form based on what Yumichika said and her reaction to it). She probably used this to infuse her spirit energy into her blood allowing her to revive someone freshly dead but infused with enough of her soul to make them extensions of herself with "strings" built in to their souls/bodies to react to her commands (explaining how they could be taken over by an ability that could control her own soul like Pepe's or by someone like Kurotsuchi who could essentially rewire the spirit threads to link up to him) The Lloyds: Is Yhwach Necessary For Schrifts? In the manga they actually mention in the story o Royd Lloyd and Loyd Lloyd that they discovered their ability by the age of 5, nowhere is Yhwach mentioned in the story of their powers and it's strongly implied they discovered and trained them on their own. If this is true Yhwach seems to not be strictly necessary but more a catalyst to speed up the evolution of a quincy's powers when they may not know how to train their powers to go further. It's even entirely possible, though unknown to most quincies, that a quincy can even write a schrift onto their souls to gain a personalized ability themselves but just don't know how (and would likely have to find a letter/word that resonates with their powers) Hollow and Shinigami:2 Sides of the Same Power (disclaimer:very speculative and perhaps controversial) My belief is that the reason zanpakuto specially negate hollows and don't just kill but also "purify" them is that they both represent opposite halves of one complete power from the start (kind of like the yin half and yang half adding up to a complete person). Evidence that this is likely the case, at least to some extent, comes from a few factors: 1-asauchi spirits actually look like hollows themselves, with their eye holes even looking like the mouths that form when a soul chain is being consumed in the hollowfication process (see Ichigo's training to get his zanpakuto back). I think they look like this because the asauchi themselves are made using pieces from fallen hollows that are then forged and added positive energy to by the shinigami until the positive energy aspected zanpakuto spirit awakens 2-even though shinigami need special swords to awaken their powers, arrancar develop a zanpakuto sword without needing an asauchi. This evolution shows a great irony that while shinigami need special tool to access their powers, arrancar develop the exact same way to wield their powers as shinigami but independent of shinigami evolution ( even Starkk and Lilynette have swords as seen when Lilynette's sword gets absorbed into the resureccion right in front of Ukitake in the anime). This suggests to me that arrancar are naturally evolving to fill the hole in their hearts/purifying themselves the same way a shinigami does by evolving into shinigami, the other half of the whole power if I'm correct. They even look like powers that fit together if you think about it as hollows build armor-like bodies to protect their soul, whereas shinigami build weapons/tools to go on the offensive against hollows (the philosophies of aggressively fighting to build your future and building weapons to assist you as opposed to building a armor/shell to protect yourself from the world and build up your strength, basically one counts as the defensive armor and the other counts as the offensive sword to create a powerful and balanced warrior). I personally wonder what would happen if an arrancar trained the same way a shinigami does to awaken their zanpakuto spirit, you may eventually get shikai/bankai wielding arrancar with shrinking hollow holes 3- this one might get lost on people think the idea of a hell existing to "punish evil" makes sense but I think it says a lot about how intrinsicly connected hollows and shinigami power is that hellbound souls aren't purified by zanpakuto. It suggests that the part of the soul that goes into corruption of a hollow is vastly different than the part that goes into the corruption in a togabito. Hollows fight so that they can feel alive inside and fill a void they feel is making them incomplete inside/in their lives, something that I think everyone can relate to a bit, togabito fight out of a desire to survive and vent their malice at the world. This distinction in motive makes them vastly different but in the end "evil" is ultimately arbitrary term and I think that what makes the actions of one able to be purified rather than the other is that shinigami nature is the hollow's polar spiritual opposite. The hell guys probably aren't even in hell to be punished, more likely it's because that spiritual world of hell can help cultivate that part of their soul and naturally takes its form because that's what a world of people like that would tend to make, there is even a religious theory to rectify God being infinitely merciful with the existence of a hell that states you just go where others like yourself go and for bad people that is a place that they themselves make horrible...togabito even develop powers while they're there as added evidence to my point (perhaps Kokuto even evolved into something like a diabolus after he broke his chains, after all kushanada just seem like a different species' version of a gillian to me). Sorry for the off topic hell rant, my point is that hollows being specially purified and not togabito says much 4- fullbringers, which gain power mostly based on hollow exposure, gain their powers and manifest them almost exactly the same way if you consider always need to imprint an asauchi for their power. Following this logic, they both need an external object and to forge a deep bond with it before their powers can manifest. Sure shinigami add their inner zanpakuto spirit and fullbringers pull an already existing object's soul but the fact that shinigami power mimics almost perfectly the power of a fullbring, a power that comes from hollows, in their motus operandi says alot Orihime Is A Fullbringer Though never stated outright to be one, she uses an object to manifest her powers and that object never evolves except to its powers. Chad never seemed to use bringer light so I don't think it's a requirement that she would have manifested it. The biggest thing going against this theory is that she manifests actual spirits that she can talk to but I think this is accomplished by saying that her fullbring turned her hair pin into a 100-year object, which are objects believed to exist in Japan that have individual personalities, strong powers, and have even been known to take on a human like form in myths. I would appreciate any evidence supporting or disproving this theory Can All Humans Be Fullbringers? This is meant as both a question for you to hopefully answer and my own theory on the matter based on some of Ginjo's words in the manga. While explaining to Ichigo about fullbring Ginjo stated that it's the same as how some people have a lucky bat that they get especially good hits with but such occurrences are so common it suggests that it's something any human could master but that those who's parents were attacked by hollows while they were in the womb may just have a born talent at this ability. I always like going with the option that a certain power isn't purely limited to those born lucky but I'm not sure what EXACTLY to make of Ginjo's words so any comments or evidence one way or the other is appreciated